


Scar Tissue

by manic_intent



Category: Deadpool (Movieverse)
Genre: First time they say "I love you" to the other and mean it, Full spoilers, M/M, Post-Canon, That Postcanon AU with confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 23:49:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14758620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manic_intent/pseuds/manic_intent
Summary: “We arenotnaming our team ‘Six Pack’. We already have a team name. It’s called ‘X-Force’,” Wade said, crossing his arms in the team salute from where he was sprawled across the bed.“Firstly,” Cable said without looking up from slotting weird chips into the Awesome Gun beside Wade on the quilt, “I was joking when I said ‘six pack’.”“No you weren’t. You don’t joke. You don’t have a sense of humour. It was probably surgically removed from you as a child.” Wade paused. “Also, you like beer too much for that to have been a joke.”





	Scar Tissue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brodinsons (aeon_entwined)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeon_entwined/gifts).



> Prompt: for brodinsons: the first time they each say “I love you" to the other and mean it (at very different times and inspired by very different things). 
> 
> For the purposes of my fics Wade’s shenanigans in mid credits never happens.

“We are _not_ naming our team ‘Six Pack’. We already have a team name. It’s called ‘X-Force’,” Wade said, crossing his arms in the team salute from where he was sprawled across the bed.

“Firstly,” Cable said without looking up from slotting weird chips into the Awesome Gun beside Wade on the quilt, “I was joking when I said ‘six pack’.” 

“No you weren’t. You don’t joke. You don’t have a sense of humour. It was probably surgically removed from you as a child.” Wade paused. “Also, you like beer too much for that to have been a joke.” 

“Secondly,” Cable said, as he reassembled the stock of the rifle, “I told you, the Professor really doesn’t like a group of heavily armed mercs going around calling themselves the ‘X-Force’. Unless you wanna follow his little book of rules.” 

“Pretty sure I stole all the copies and set them on fire the last time I was in the Mansion.” Russell had even helped. They’d also, okay, maybe accidentally set fire to a little bit of the hedges in the process, but it was all part of the Learning Process. Or so Wade had told Colossus, right before he was banned from the Mansion for a month. 

“Also, that thing. The crossed salute. Ain’t funny.” 

“Funny? It’s not meant to be a joke? I think?”

“Right over left? You’re not referring to Wakanda?” 

“Wakanda question is that?” 

Cable snorted. “Fuck off. Seriously. Not funny.” 

“They’re a small third world African country, last I checked. In this universe. Why? Are they hiding something?” 

“…Never mind. Thirdly. I said you could name the team if you want. A _reasonable_ name.” 

“But ‘Deadpool and Friends’ has such a ring to it,” Wade said, glowering at Cable. “No? What about ‘Deadpool’s Minions’? No? Um. ‘Alpha Flight’? I like that one. Ooh, I know. ‘X-Calibur’.” 

“No X-anything. Told you. Professor doesn’t like it.” 

“Umm.” Wade gave this due thought. “‘Revengers’?”

“No.” 

“’Adult Titans’?” 

“Wade.” 

“You’re being difficult on purpose,” Wade moaned. “‘Fellowship of the Bling?’”

That got the tiniest hint of a grin. “No.” 

“You’re one hell of a tough customer. Hey. Oh hey. I know. I’ve got it. We’ll be—” Wade stretched out his palms, “—the ’Brotherhood of Chaotic Neutral Mutants’.” 

The laughter ebbed out of Cable in gasps. He always laughed like he was trying to fight it down, lock it up tight. The trigger was always random but when Wade found it, it was worth it. Worth watching Cable’s broad shoulders shake uncontrollably, his grim face crease and soften, his thousand-yard stare squeezed away from the present. 

Wade grinned smugly, and was about to christen that as their new team name when Cable said, still chuckling, “Damn, I love you.” 

Five minutes in, Cable finally noticed the dead silence and looked up from his gun with a frown. “What?” 

Wade was still gawping. “You said the thing!” he sputtered. 

“What thing?” Cable had the fucking balls to be bewildered. 

“The thing!” Wade snarled. He grabbed his phone and scuttled off to the ensuite bathroom, slamming the door. Dialling the first number he remembered off his head, he locked the door and sat in the tub, nudging the phone up against his ear. 

“Wade?” Cable asked cautiously from behind the door.

“Go away!” Wade yelled. 

“Jesus, Wade.” Cable rattled the doorknob carefully. “Come on.”

There was a faint click. “Hi Wade,” Yukio said, in her sweet, sweet, perky voice. 

“Hi Yukio,” Wade said, and switched to Japanese. “The thing happened. Not a drill. I’m freaking out.”

“That’s… great?” Yukio replied in Japanese, paused, and said, “Is Cable there right now?”

“Yes?”

“Talking in another language doesn’t work before a telepath. Fun trick, isn’t it?” Yukio said brightly, switching back to English.

“Fuck!” That’s right. Fucking telepaths. Literally, in Wade’s case, but fuck. Hell, his Japanese was a little rusty anyway.

Behind Yukio there was the vaguely muffled sound of Russell saying, “Wade’s on the line? Something’s up?” 

“Who cares.” That was Negasonic. 

“Tell your Casual Day Goth girlfriend that I’m totally hurt,” Wade said.

“Wade says he’s hurt. Emotionally?” Yukio relayed dutifully to the others. “He’s fine, he’s just having a lot of feels right now.” 

“Wow. Okay. Uh. Tell Wade that the thing where you keep in all your feelings and then repress them all down is totally unhealthy mate, it’s called toxic masculinity, and it’ll make you do bad, bad things to other people,” Russell said, very seriously. 

Kids make you better than who you are? They made you fucking depressed, that’s what they did. Wade let out a deep sigh, just as Cable knocked on the door. “Wade,” he said. 

“I could use some space!” Wade yelled through the door, clapping a hand over his phone. “Sorry Yukio. Clingy roommate.”

“Maybe Russell’s right,” Yukio said, concerned. “Maybe you should just talk to Cable. He’s a telepath, talking to him isn’t going to be hard. It’s always nice talking to the Professor. Restful, even.”

“That’s what you think. Nate’s the laziest telepath in the world,” Wade said sourly. “Anyone who watched the second film without already knowing about his character wouldn’t have guessed that he was a goddamned telepath.” 

“Why is he having feels? Do we want to know?” Russell asked, worried. 

“Wade told me a few weeks ago that he had a feeling that the Friends with Benefits thing he had going on with Nate was going to get serious someday and then everything would go to hell,” Yukio said. She giggled at something. “I know right?” 

“Wow. Some guys really never grow up.” Negasonic actually sounded impressed.

“Hey, it’s not Wade’s fault that he has the emotional maturity of a constipated pigeon,” Russell said. Fine time for Russell to show evidence of over-exposure to Wade’s particular brand of wit. “Though this is kind of sad. I mean. Firstly Cable gave up on seeing his family ever again to save Wade. Then they moved in together. They do all their mercenary jobs together. They watch movies together. Cable does Wade’s laundry. They’re exclusive. They use each other’s guns. All they’re missing is a tiny designer dog and couple shirts. You’d think Wade would get a clue by now.”

“Tell my sidekick that stereotyping is the last resort of the unimaginative,” Wade said, scowling. Brat had a point. 

“This is a good thing,” Yukio said encouragingly. “You stopped stalking Colossus once Cable moved in. Everyone’s a lot happier. You look happier.” 

“I don’t.” Wade took in a deep breath and peeked under the door. No shadow. Cable had made himself scarce. “I don’t _want_ to be happier,” he said, lowering his voice anyway. 

Yukio sighed. “Wade.” 

“It hasn’t been that long since ‘Ness. Less than a year? I can’t have just moved on by now. What will she think? I caused her death and now I’ve moved on? I didn’t think that I was that much of a total dickwad.” When was the last time he’d even had That Dream? “She told me how it wasn’t time for us yet. Yet. I was meant to be waiting.” 

“Let me talk to him,” Negasonic said. Had Yukio dialled up the volume or something?

“No, I’ll do it. I owe him a lot,” Russell said.

“I’ll just put this on speaker. Hey Wade. It’s okay to feel guilty. It’s normal,” Yukio said earnestly. 

“Loss is a part of life. Like mac and cheese,” Russell said, his voice closer to the phone now. 

“Everyone dies eventually,” Negasonic said, solemn. 

“Oh god, please take the phone off speaker and move away from those two fuckwits _please_ ,” Wade whined. 

“Says the grown-ass man relying on teenagers for emotional support. I’ve been learning a lot in the Mansion,” Russell said, “like how leaning on your women friends to pull the emotional weight in your relationships is bad and exhausting.” 

“… I _knew_ I should’ve put you into foster care,” Wade grumbled. 

There was the muffled sound of an apology and someone walking, then Yukio said, in Japanese, “Want me to come over? We could go to the park and feed some ducks.” 

“No, it’s okay. Long drive. And you’ve got—” Wade checked his watch, “—world literature class in fifteen minutes.” 

“How did you know that?” 

“I’m listed as a guardian and the next-of-kin for Russell and the Professor sent me all that paperwork to sign off?” Cable had made him read all of it, too, which had sucked at the time but had been funny later, when Wade had briefly convinced Russell that he was using robot roaches to spy on him in the Mansion. 

“I could take the plane,” Yukio offered. 

“Thanks, but I don’t want you to get grounded.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Yukio said comfortably. “This is why I like you.” 

“Always thought you were doing that ironically. To piss off the girlfriend.”

“No?” Yukio giggled. “You’ve got a good heart. You just pretend not to have one. Wade, grief is sometimes the price you pay for love. But you’ve always got to have the courage to try again, you know? Again and again. Would Ness have wanted you to stay unhappy?”

“If she was waiting she would’ve wanted me to wait.” 

“But you haven’t had the dream so far, right? Since the orphanage?” Yukio waited. When Wade didn’t speak, Yukio said, “Maybe that’s a sign. Whatever’s left, maybe she’s at peace. If you close yourself off, hold on to your pain, it’s going to change you. You’ll burn yourself inwards. When you lose someone you never really let go. Ness will always be a part of you and you’ll always miss her. I think it’s better to accept that and try again than to build up so much scar tissue that you become someone else.” 

“… Wow, Yukio,” Wade said, blinking. He rubbed at his eyes. “Kinda didn’t expect anything that deep.”

Yukio laughed. “Because of the Neon Asian Girl look? Stereotyping!”

“Because you’re just a teenager, you sparkly precious unicorn you. By the way, I think you can do so much better than Angry Goth Girlfriend. Tell me the person of your dreams. I will kidnap them and bring them to the Mansion.”

“Just give Cable a chance, okay? Be happy, Wade. Maybe we should all do brunch tomorrow. At the nice cafe down your street.” 

“Sure. Bring Russell. No need to bring Teen Evanescence.” 

Yukio giggled. “Bye Wade.”

“Bye Yukio.”

Wade hung up. There were five worried messages already from Russell, but he held the vibrating phone over his chest and lay on the floor of the toilet, staring at the ceiling. Then he exhaled loudly and got to his feet. No avoiding it now. He nudged the door open and peeked outside. Bedroom was empty. Awesome Gun was still in several pieces on the bed. Wade snuck out, kinda wishing that he hadn’t been in his Superman boxers and a two-day-old shirt for his brief breakdown. 

Cable was in the living room, sitting on the couch and staring at his hands. He got to his feet when Wade sidled over, narrowing his eyes. “You wanna talk about it?” Cable asked, when Wade said nothing. 

“Not really.” 

“Ah, shit.” Cable scratched his jaw. “You wanna forget I said anything?”

It was a serious question. If Wade said yes, he knew Cable would carefully never bring it up again. They could continue on this comfortable state of being, a halfway state while Wade built up scar tissue and waited for death. And maybe yeah. Maybe by the time he met Ness again he was no longer the better person he hoped to be. 

“No,” Wade said. He rounded the couch to get closer. Put his arms around solidly built shoulders and kissed Cable on the mouth. Cable slid his hands over Wade’s hips and opened up for it, trading breaths until they were synched, until Wade’s panic was a distant scratchy buzz. It’d be there for a while still, his guilt and grief. But it didn’t have to be all that was there. 

“It kinda slipped out,” Cable said, choosing his words cautiously. 

“But you meant it.”

“I always mean what I say.” 

“What would your wife think? Aren’t you waiting to get back to her?” Wade asked. Cable’s glowing eye flared briefly as he looked away, setting his jaw. They both knew this was a convenient question. With the time machine out for the count, there _was_ no getting back. Cable had burned that bridge for Wade. 

“She’d do fine without me,” Cable said quietly. 

“I don’t think you ever even told me her name. That is some serious fridging, even for Marvel.” 

“… Louise,” Cable said, after a long pause. He eyed Wade soberly. “We good?” 

“Can’t you just skim that off my brain? You are so fucking lazy.” Wade managed a wan smile.

“It’s called respecting your privacy, douchebag.” 

“Yeah,” Wade said. He rubbed his palm down Cable’s throat, against flesh and metal. “We’re good.” They had been good together for a while. Wade had just chosen not to see it. “So. We’re going with that Brotherhood name?”

“No.”

#

“Objectively speaking, Moana is way better on the Disney Princess Movie scale,” Wade said, as he put Frozen on, “but sometimes, the brain just needs junk food.”

Cable grunted as the Disney opening animation came on. “Oh. These guys.”

“They’re still around in the future?” 

“They own every visual entertainment company in the future.” 

“Riiiight. Okay. Guess it’s already moving in that direction so that’s not a big surprise. Wait, so. You’ve seen Princess Movies before?” 

“Yeah? I had a daughter. Every line of dialogue from Ye Xian is burned into my brain. The songs, too. That faux kingfisher feather cloak and gold slipper costume Disney started shilling after the film cost a small fortune in energy credits.” 

“… Let’s watch Moana instead.” Wade made the switch. 

He was curled on the couch against Cable, a nice buffer against the winter’s chill that otherwise permeated every inch of the apartment, even with the heater turned up. Their as yet untitled team had just taken down a slaver ring in Libya. Domino and the others had gone off to celebrate. Over a year ago Wade would’ve happily tagged along. He couldn’t get drunk, but he always gave it a fair shot. Nowadays he just got a couple of drinks then went home with Cable. Like a married couple. He was getting old before his time and it was Cable’s fault.

Cable did not cry at all during Moana, which proved, Wade told him afterwards, that the techno-whatever virus had clearly infected his tear ducts. Cable rolled his eyes. “I think I’ve seen every variation of mass entertainment princess story known to humanity,” he said. 

“I’m going to take that as a challenge,” Wade said, still rubbing his eyes. “Who the hell doesn’t cry during the grandmother scene? I don’t even know who my grandmothers were and it gets me.” He clenched his fist over his chest. “Every time.” 

“It’s a piece of corporate entertainment aimed at getting little children to pressure their parents into feeding money into the industrial machine,” Cable said sourly.

“Wow, someone’s bitter.” Wade prodded Cable’s thigh.

He grunted. “Songs weren’t so bad,” Cable conceded. “Heard worse.” 

“Songs? Pssh. I’ll put on Coco next. If you don’t cry during that one, I’m just going to go out on a limb and tell you that you have no soul.” Wade started to reach for the controller, only for Cable to pull him over. “Or not? What’s with the serious face? You’d rather watch something else?”

“You know what today is?” Cable asked. 

“… Not your birthday?” Wade hazarded, because that had always been a trick question with Ness. 

“No. Eh. Russell said this was probably still too soon, but Yukio told me to go ahead so.” Cable dug under the couch and pulled out a long box. He dropped it onto Wade’s lap. 

“… Pretty sure it’s not my birthday,” Wade said. “And not Christmas. And whatever it is, I didn’t get you anything.” 

Cable shrugged. “That’s fine. Just open it. Don’t freak out.” 

“Now that you’ve said that I’m already pre-freaked out thank you, but I do love presents. Especially unexpected presents.” Wade braced himself, undid the ribbon and opened the box. Within it was a pair of sheathed katanas settled on black velvet. Wade blinked, unsheathing an inch from a blade to check the finish, whistled, and removed the handle. He goggled at the engraved signature. “What. The fuck. How much did this even cost?”

“Best not to ask.” 

“An Ōsumi Toshihira sword…” 

“They both are.”

“I’m. Still trying to catch up to that possibility. Holy. Shitballs. Wow. He signed both. And that’s my name on both too? He made these for me? You got these made for me? He doesn’t always engrave the stuff he makes, only the stuff he feels is good enough and—” Wade took in a deep breath. “Okay. What day is it today, and have I fucked up.” 

Cable eyed him warily. “You’re freaking out.”

“Really? Whatever gave you that impression? I’m holding two katanas made for me by an actual fucking Living National Treasure and I think I didn’t get the memo about why.” 

“Forget it.”

“Nope! No. Not doing that.” Wade reverently replaced the handles and set the katanas back into the box, then he climbed up onto Cable’s lap. Big hands settled lightly on his hips, but Cable kept staring at him as though expecting Wade to bolt at any moment. “This isn’t an apology present or something is it? Because if it is, I totally accept.”

“No.” 

“A Thank You present?” Wade guessed. 

“Not really.”

Cable was a hard man to read. But he was usually at ease around Wade. Relaxed, even. The last time he’d looked this tense a panicked phonecall to Yukio had been involved. And the last time Wade had gotten something in a neat box like this… well. Shit had gotten bad real quick. Wade had thought this would hurt more. Scare him, even. Maybe it was the shock. He kissed Cable and met lips pressed together into a thin line. 

“Anniversary?” Wade asked, and felt Cable flinch under his palms. Wade let out a laugh. It was a grateful sound, a prayer. The knot in his gut was easing. He was shedding scar tissue. The days and their deaths had left their mark but Wade had rolled with that and come back up again, because living had always hurt in various ways but he’d always somehow been lucky to find people who made it worth the pain. Again and again. “C’mon Nate,” Wade whispered, “kiss me like you mean it.” 

Cable went very still. Wade was about to roll his eyes and say something suitably sarcastic when Cable gasped something Wade couldn’t catch and picked Wade up, his infected side creaking as Wade laughed and wrapped his legs around Cable’s waist. Kissing Cable got a better reaction this time, Cable opening up for it, getting distracted, completely missing the door to their bedroom and backing Wade up against the wall beside it instead. Cable was kissing Wade roughly the way he did whenever Wade riled him up enough for a quick and dirty fuck, but he was making these gasping grateful sounds in between breaths, his eyes squeezed shut. 

“Just fuck me here,” Wade suggested, and grinned as Cable let out a groan.

“Lube and condoms. In the other room.” 

“Why, aren’t we a boy scout all of a sudden.” Wade grabbed on to the doorframe when Cable tried to move them both. “You have superpowers. Use ‘em.” 

Wade slid down, still grinning, until he was on his knees and nuzzling the swell in Cable’s combat fatigues. “Giving you some incentive to hurry up,” Wade said, as he undid the top button with his teeth, then pulled the zipper down. No hands. Always a fun party trick at the best of times, but Cable let out a tiny breath as he watched and braced the length of his metal arm against the wall like he needed the balance. 

Something rattled in the bedroom and thumped against the floor. Drawer, maybe? Wade snickered and got Cable’s thickening cock out, licked it lazily from root to tip until he got it nice and wet. Took his time tonguing the tip and licking under the foreskin, hunting the taste, the musk. Something heavy whacked hard against the opposite side of the wall and Wade flinched, then started to laugh as thick fingers curled over the back of his head to hold him down. 

“Don’t bring down the place,” Wade said smugly. 

He sucked Cable in before Cable could say something, stuffed his mouth full with inches to spare. Cable whined as he breathed in hoarse sobs. He pushed against Wade’s mouth in rolling thrusts. The—probably the side drawer—scraped heavily against the wall, the sounds stuttering in an asymmetric match to Wade’s bobbing. Cable’s breathing deepened as Wade hollowed his cheeks and sucked. Wade tugged Cable’s fatigues to his knees and dug the nails of one hand into the seamed metal chords that roped down Cable’s inner thigh, choking as Cable yelped and jerked against his mouth. His own cock ached. Cable was close now, he could hear it, in the thin way Cable was starting to breathe, the restless curl of his fingertips against Wade’s skull.

Then Cable was pulling back and dragging Wade to his feet, so quickly that Wade coughed and yelped. “What the—” 

“Turn around,” Cable growled. Ah. Right. Wade grinned coyly and obeyed, throwing in a little hip wiggle for good measure as he pushed down his own pants and underwear. He could see the remains of the drawer nudged against the doorframe. The lube was in Cable’s hands, Cable breathing hotly against Wade’s ear as he started with prep and it was a good thing Wade had gotten all cleaned up in the shower earlier, just in case.

“Are we starting this century, future boy?” Wade pushed against Cable’s fingers. “C’mon. I’m getting worried here. You’re old. Not sure how long you can keep it up.” 

“Shut up, fuck’s sake, shut up,” Cable muttered, but his words were spoken thickly, raw with amused affection. At least he sped up. Wade purred as Cable pushed into him and kept going. The metal hand clamped against the doorframe, the thumb digging into the wall as Cable bottomed out with a low snarl. 

“Sweet baby Jesus that’s good,” Wade groaned, wriggling against Cable’s hips. “God I love you.” 

Cable’s thumb punched into the wall.

Wade flinched. “What the actual _ass_ , Nate. I meant it about not damaging the place!” 

“You… I don’t even.” Cable took in a deep breath. “You meant it. I felt that.” 

“Felt what?”

“Rewind your fucking brain fifteen seconds!”

Wade frowned as he did so. “Oh. Heh. Okay.”

“ _Okay?_ ”

“You’re a goddamned telepath, dickwad, I thought you knew!” 

“I don’t just go around reading everyone’s minds, jackass!” 

“Wow this is a new one. We’re having an argument while you’re making use of my backstage entrance.” Wade tried to move, but Cable quickly curled his free arm around his waist. He thumped his head down against the wall with a groan of frustration. “If you leave me high and dry I’m… ngh… going to murder the neighbour’s guinea pig. You want that on your conscience?” 

“Jesus. You are such. An asswipe.” Cable sucked in a long breath, then he started to laugh, the even as Wade reached behind him and scratched pointedly over the back of Cable’s neck. 

“Just move. Before you lose your hard on and I have to stab you in the dick with my new present.” 

Cable bit Wade hard in the back of the neck for that but he braced his weight and started to move, fucking Wade in brutal jags against the wall. The Terminator part of him made metallic little whines as Cable drew strength from it to bruise them both, to scour their bodies together. Teeth scraped against Wade’s shoulders and Wade pushed into the sting, his spine was aching and his hands were getting rubbed raw against the wall and he was breathing in thin gasps. Thick fingers scratched over his belly and squeezed Wade’s cock and set him off, Cable making a surprised sound as Wade locked up and wailed, spurting over his hand. 

Cable slowed down. Wade made a incredulous strangled sound, his cheek mashed against the wall and struggling to stay upright. Cable chuckled, holding him up, shifting, and now he was rubbing against Wade’s prostate with each jerk of his hips. He breathed heavily against Wade’s ear, warm and intimate and possessive. “Think you can get it up again?” Cable rumbled. 

Wade bared his teeth into a grin. “Now you’re talking.”

**Author's Note:**

> twitter: manic_intent  
> tumblr: manic-intent.tumblr.com  
> \--  
> Refs: In the comics, iirc Louise Spalding is Hope Summers’ mother. I don’t think the wife was ever named in the film. In the IMDB they’re not even named lol. 
> 
> Ye Xian is one of the oldest known variants of the Cinderella story, first published during the Tang dynasty.
> 
> The "I thought you knew!" dialogue is from twitter with @brodinsons when discussing the prompt. Heheh.


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